ANTHONY Cacace fell agonisingly short on Saturday night as Martin J Ward held on to his British featherweight title by the skin of his teeth.
Ward, who also picked up the Commonwealth title, won the Lonsdale belt outright after a points win over 12 absorbing rounds. The judges at Webley Arena had it 115-114, 116-114 and 116-113 to Ward, while Cacace supporters, and many neutrals, had the Belfast man edging it.
On home soil, the decision might have gone Cacace’s way, but his manager Pat Magee says ‘Anto’ has made a lot of ground despite the first loss of his career.
“The positives for us are that, regardless of the results and we’re disappointed that we didn’t get it, Anthony proved he is at that level and beyond,” he said.
“He is still wanted by ITV and his career will go forward from here. It’s not as if he lost and we had to accept it was a step too far, because it wasn’t.
“His profile has been raised, people will know him who didn’t know him before, and so there are a lot of positives.”
Cacace landed the cleaner shots in the fight but Ward’s workrate saw him nick crucial rounds to hang on to his title. With the Lonsdale belt secured after a third defence, Magee predicts that Ward will now vacate the British title, paving the way for Cacace to have another crack at the coveted belt.
“Anthony never had that sort of media attention or fought in front of a crowd of 6,000 before,” said Magee.
“All those things were new to him and he handled them. He proved he is at that level and I think we’ll see now that Martin Ward will vacate the title.
“He’s got the Lonsdale belt, he’s got nothing else to prove and he’s going to move on and we’ll be waiting on fighting for the vacant title when that happens.
“We’re not entitled to a rematch, that was a mandatory (defence) and, even though we think we won, it wasn’t controversial in any way. All three judges went for Ward but if you at the scoring, one more round for Anthony and you get a majority draw. It was that close.”
Magee will begin negotiations with the British Boxing Board of Control if and when Ward (now 18-0-2) vacates his title. He is confident that Cacace will be in the mix to succeed him as champion.
“I’ll be talking to the Board,” he said.
“There are eliminators taking place at the minute but there aren’t any final eliminators.
“We thought we won, it would be good for boxing and ITV are keen to support Anthony so if Ward gives it up we would want to have something sorted out
“I can confidently get fights for Anthony at that level because I’m not thinking ‘we took it too early’, nobody could say that.
“Anthony is at British/European level and beyond and I say that because that was, at worst, an even fight and we can confidently move ahead.”
MICHAEL Conlan’s next fight will be in Tucson, Arizona on September 22 on an action-packed Top Rank card that includes Carl Frampton target Oscar Valdez.
Conlan (3-0) is based in Los Angeles but had his third fight – a third round knockout win over Jarrett Owen in Brisbane, Australia on the undercard of Manny Pacquaio’s controversial points loss to Aussie star Jeff Horn.
West Belfast super-bantam Conlan topped the bill on his first two outings in New York and Chicago before featuring on the Pacquaio-Horn undercard and gets his fourth pro fight on the Tuscon world title double header.
WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez (35-0) defends his belt for the second time against Jessie Hart (22-0), while Conlan’s stablemate at Manny Robles’ Rock Gym, Oscar Valdez (22-0), will defend his WBO featherweight title for a third time against a to-be-confirmed opponent.
An opponent for Conlan, who will again box over six rounds, has yet to be announced.
CHRIS Eubank Jnr set his sights on a showdown with Shane McGuigan-trained George Groves after the successful defence of his IBO world super-middleweight title with a unanimous points win over German Arthur Abraham at Wembley Arena.
Although the champion was not able to deliver a knockout blow against the battle-hardened 37-year-old, himself a former IBF middleweight and twice WBO super-middleweight title holder, the superiority across the judges scorecards gave Eubank the validation he needed heading into the inaugural World Boxing Super Series.
Next up for Eubank will be Turkey's Avni Yildirim in a quarter-final contest, with the winner set to face either Groves or Jamie Cox.
Londoner Groves, the recently-crowned WBA world super-middleweight champion, was ringside to watch Eubank taken the distance.
After the victory, the 27-year-old declared his intentions to deliver a contest which British fight fans would relish.
"He (Abraham) is the most durable opponent I have faced; he has not been stopped for a reason. I hit him with every punch in the book,” said Eubank.
"I know I hurt him bad, I just couldn't get him out of there, but the statement was made. He did not win a round against me, and I am happy with the performance.
"I am a warrior. I do what I do to get the win, and if I can look sexy at the same time, then so be it.
"I got to show my boxing skills and get the experience in.
"I am going into the (WBSS) Super Eight tournament to take this man's (Groves) belt."
Eubank added: "He (Groves) knows what is going to happen when we get into the ring, it will be a spectacular fight, the whole of Britain wants to see it and after I beat him I am coming for (James) DeGale."
Groves, though, sees things differently.
"There is a potential I could meet Eubank, but he is in a hard fight against the Turkish lad," he said.
"I think this is a tournament that will really revolutionise boxing to a certain degree - there are eight of the best super-middleweights in the world in there together and we just can't wait to kick it off.
"Everybody is in it to win it and hopefully we will see some cracking fights."
The 29-year-old added: "I am the only current recognised world champion in there; Chris is now in there... so I am bringing the best prize to the table.
"They managed to bring the WBC diamond belt in as well, but no-one is the champion of that yet.
"The draw for me as well is that I come out of there as unified world champion as well as being involved in some big, cracking fights.
"I have been telling everyone I think I am the best in the division, and I will be able to claim that this time next year after I have won the World Boxing Super Series, so it has got to be done."
